Atlantic Standings Predictions Thread

[saska sault]

Boston
Tampa Bay
Detroit
Buffalo
Ottawa
Florida
Montreal
Toronto

As a Detroit fan I hope so, I'd need a solid weekend of bourbon and black market cannabis to be bold enough to predict this though.

 

[Strangle]

Barring some catastrophic injury or some player(s) playing at a level no one could predict, I think the top 4 and the bottom 4 will be the exact same as this past season. What order those will be in can change, but I don't see any of the bottom 4 surpassing the top 4 this year.

I don’t see it either, but if anyone drops out I think it’ll be Boston.

Who can take that spot? I have no idea. I’d think Ottawa should be better than they are, but they were so terrible last year.

losing bertuzzi and samsonov

adding stolarz, tanev, oel

does not seem worse

The leafs lost only 15-20 goals with Bert leaving and got better in net and defense.

Leafs have offense to burn if they can get their goals against lower, which they will this year

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

The Atlantic is tough but I do think Toronto wins the Atlantic this season given what they have added to their defense.

If I had to guess

Toronto 112 points

Boston 106 points

Florida 105 points

Tampa 98 points

Detroit 88 points

Ottawa 86 points
Buffalo 78 points
Montreal 75 points

With Toronto I just don't think their goaltending is going to single handily cost them 10+ points this year because Samsonov is gone.

Florida has lost A LOT on defense.

Buffalo did nothing except get worse Zucker for Skinner is not an upgrade, and that bottom 6 can't score at all.

Ottawa got better with Ullmark and Perron but it's not enough to get into the top 4.

Detroit traded away Walman with a 2nd for literally nothing for some reason.

Montreal just isn't ready.


For me 2nd, 3rd and 4th are VERY close and while I have Tampa in 4th I could see them as high as 2nd.

Boston was tough because you could make the argument they got better and they certainly did on defense no question but they also went from Ullmark to Korpi and that's not good.

 

[Strangle]

You know it is possible to have more talent but finish with less points the following year right? Bruins have massively overachieved in the regular season the last two years.

That (overachieving) also had a lot to do with their goalie tandem, which they can’t lean on this year.

Can the bruins win the division with Korpisalo playing 40 games? I don’t think so.

Can swayman play 65 games in a season, and stay vezina caliber?

We will see, but bruins goaltending just became as questionable as the Leafs is.

 

[Beezeral]

That (overachieving) also had a lot to do with their goalie tandem, which they can’t lean on this year.

Can the bruins win the division with Korpisalo playing 40 games? I don’t think so.

Can swayman play 65 games in a season, and stay vezina caliber?

We will see, but bruins goaltending just became as questionable as the Leafs is.

as questionable as the leafs is a massive leap.

 

[roflstomper]

That (overachieving) also had a lot to do with their goalie tandem, which they can’t lean on this year.

Can the bruins win the division with Korpisalo playing 40 games? I don’t think so.

Can swayman play 65 games in a season, and stay vezina caliber?

We will see, but bruins goaltending just became as questionable as the Leafs is.

Nah bro.

 

[Beezeral]

Boston
Tampa Bay
Detroit
Buffalo
Ottawa
Florida
Montreal
Toronto

gonna have to show your work how the panthers finish that low in the division. let alone toronto in last.

 

[Strangle]

as questionable as the leafs is a massive leap.

Ya it’s a bold thing to say, but having two goalies be able to give 82 games of such consistent performance is a pretty huge advantage.

We really don’t know how swayman is going to look with a much higher workload, and we can assume korpisalo is a huge downgrade on ullmark.

Similar to how we know Woll has fantastic numbers, but we can’t predict how much he will play or how he will look with 50-60 starts.

Stolarz > korpisalo though. I’d say it’s likely Murray > korpisalo too

Both teams have questions in net going into the season and I think they are similar

There is no one coming to bail swayman out of a bad stretch this year, he’s the man

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

That (overachieving) also had a lot to do with their goalie tandem, which they can’t lean on this year.

Can the bruins win the division with Korpisalo playing 40 games? I don’t think so.

Can swayman play 65 games in a season, and stay vezina caliber?

We will see, but bruins goaltending just became as questionable as the Leafs is.

Lets not say things that aren't true Swayman is a legitimate #1

 

[Strangle]

Lets not say things that aren't true Swayman is a legitimate #1

That’s not what I mean. He is a number 1

But is he a workhorse number 1? We don’t know if he can play more than twice a week over the course of a season.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

gonna have to show your work how the panthers finish that low in the division. let alone toronto in last.

That's called celebrate either Canada dau, or the 4th of July to much and still being hung over.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

That’s not what I mean. He is a number 1

But is he a workhorse number 1? We don’t know if he can play more than twice a week over the course of a season.

Just be more clear next time because if you aren't then I have to come in here and defend a Bruin and I don't ever want to do that because defending a Bruin makes me die, a little bit inside.

But we are here now because you brought us here.

 

[BostonBob]

.... because defending a Bruin makes me die, a little bit inside.

Come on now - as a Leaf fan you have already died inside a bunch of times already.

 

[Imgoingtowork]

gonna have to show your work how the panthers finish that low in the division. let alone toronto in last.

Toronto sucks.

 

[Rockomax]

Montréal will finish last. Ottawa, Buffalo still disappointing. Detroit will regress a little.

I don't think we will see much change from last season. Maybe swap Buffalo and Ottawa.

I feel like the top will be a little tighter next season with Toronto, Florida, Boston and Tampa all within 5-6 points. Ultimately, I believe Boston will come on top. Something like:

Boston
Florida
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Detroit
Ottawa
Buffalo
Montréal

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

losing bertuzzi and samsonov

adding stolarz, tanev, oel

does not seem worse

Add Brodie, Giodano, Edmundson, Lyubushkin and Klingberg to your list of exiting players.

 

[weaponomega]

That’s not what I mean. He is a number 1

But is he a workhorse number 1? We don’t know if he can play more than twice a week over the course of a season.

We don't yet know if he needs to be a workhorse. Lets not discount what the Bruins have done with goaltending over the last 17 years. 4 Vezina's from 3 different goalies.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Add Brodie, Giodano, Edmundson, Lyubushkin and Klingberg to your list of exiting players.

guys who lost their jobs, TDL rentals, corpse who played a dozen games. My list was actual impactful players going forward, I didn't add every incoming depth piece either

 

[wintersej]

The Atlantic is tough but I do think Toronto wins the Atlantic this season given what they have added to their defense.

If I had to guess

Toronto 112 points

Boston 106 points

Florida 105 points

Tampa 98 points

Detroit 88 points

Ottawa 86 points
Buffalo 78 points
Montreal 75 points

With Toronto I just don't think their goaltending is going to single handily cost them 10+ points this year because Samsonov is gone.

Florida has lost A LOT on defense.

Buffalo did nothing except get worse Zucker for Skinner is not an upgrade, and that bottom 6 can't score at all.

Ottawa got better with Ullmark and Perron but it's not enough to get into the top 4.

Detroit traded away Walman with a 2nd for literally nothing for some reason.

Montreal just isn't ready.


For me 2nd, 3rd and 4th are VERY close and while I have Tampa in 4th I could see them as high as 2nd.

Boston was tough because you could make the argument they got better and they certainly did on defense no question but they also went from Ullmark to Korpi and that's not good.

Yeah for regular season replacing Ullmark’s 40 games with 10 from Swayman and 30 from Korpisalo/Bussi will be a hit. Swapping out injured Gryz/injured Forbort/Wotherspoon and adding in Zadorov and the Lorhei we started to see grow up in the playoffs will be a big upgrade to the D.

The forward group still isn’t good enough with DeBrusk/JVR/Heinen for Lindholm/Poitras/Lysell, but it’s constructed better. A lot riding on the kids being effective in the middle six.

 

[BostonBruins11]

Leafs once again assembled a bargin bin special defensive group, they literally don't have a single top pairing defensemen yet again lol. Goaltending is questionable with two unproven backup goalies. Their Bottom Six forward group is likely among the worse of all playoff bound teams. Yes Tanev and OEL were great..... 6 years ago but at this stage in their career they're #4/5 at best on a contending team. If OEL was only 1 year removed from his 40pts+ pace I could understand the excitement but he hasn't hit 40pts+ in 6 seasons

 

[BostonBruins11]

Yeah for regular season replacing Ullmark’s 40 games with 10 from Swayman and 30 from Korpisalo/Bussi will be a hit. Swapping out injured Gryz/injured Forbort/Wotherspoon and adding in Zadorov and the Lorhei we started to see grow up in the playoffs will be a big upgrade to the D.

The forward group still isn’t good enough with DeBrusk/JVR/Heinen for Lindholm/Poitras/Lysell, but it’s constructed better. A lot riding on the kids being effective in the middle six.

Bruins D got a massive upgrade and adding Lindholm's 2-way game is like adding another quality D.
If needed finding another backup goalie isn't that difficult.

 

[wintersej]

Bruins D got a massive upgrade and adding Lindholm's 2-way game is like adding another quality D.
If needed finding another backup goalie isn't that difficult.

They seem to think that they can fix Korpisalo. Even if they do, he won’t be Ullmark. Just a question of how much worse it’s gonna be in those 30 games. We talking 15 extra goals allowed or are we talking 30.

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

Leafs once again assembled a bargin bin special defensive group, they literally don't have a single top pairing defensemen yet again lol. Goaltending is questionable with two unproven backup goalies. Their Bottom Six forward group is likely among the worse of all playoff bound teams. Yes Tanev and OEL were great..... 6 years ago but at this stage in their career they're #4/5 at best on a contending team. If OEL was only 1 year removed from his 40pts+ pace I could understand the excitement but he hasn't hit 40pts+ in 6 seasons

 

[Beezeral]

Zadorov isn't that good.

 

[Strangle]

We don't yet know if he needs to be a workhorse. Lets not discount what the Bruins have done with goaltending over the last 17 years. 4 Vezina's from 3 different goalies.

They have to fail at some point! No time better than right now lol